Of Cogs and Renaissance
by ChuckleNutz
Summary: Miles 'Tails' Prower, left embittered and depressed at his recent rejection by a certain vixen, has found himself with trust issues and shut himself off from the rest of his friends. Upon meeting a certain purple avian, he may find himself changing once more for the better. Rated M for sexual themes and content.
1. Prologue

**AN: This is my first attempt at writing a publicly viewed fanfiction, but I am no stranger to writing. That being said, I am still open to constructive criticism and feedback. This first chapter is just a short prologue of what is to come and is a slightly different take on StH #173. The rest of the story will take place after and may be slightly AU as it might bend canon just a smidge to accommodate my writing. Still, I'm accepting reviews and suggestions.**

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"...You can't count on anybody."

Fiona's words effected Tails' young conscious so greatly that he hardly registered the following slap as he was sent spiraling towards the dirt. His mind in a daze, he quickly worked to figure out what had happened and only a familiar voice screaming his name and the taste of tears, dirty and grass shook him out of his trance. He looked up to spot his long-time best friend and short-time relationship rival briefly doing battle with a gleeful Scourge before the latter dragged a grinning Fiona into a Warp Ring.

"Hey little buddy, are you alright?" Sonic had briskly walked over to Tails to pick him up off the dirt and brush his hands along his shoulders to dust him off. "Listen: Don't let what Fiona said get to you."

With tears in his eyes, Tails looked up at Sonic in contemplation briefly before shaking his head and shrugging the hedgehog's hands off his shoulders. The young fox turned to walk past a confused Antoine as he muttered his response. "Sure Sonic. I'll.. catch you later."

"Vat is ze matter viz him?" Antoine said as the fox shrugged past him. With the setting sun at their backs, Sonic and the french Coyote watched as Tails silently disappeared behind a thick patch of trees.

"I'll tell you when we get back to the HQ," Sonic said with one last glance to where Tails had disappeared before glancing down at his shoes and walked the dirt path which lead to Knothole and the Freedom Fighters Headquarters with Antoine at his heels desperately asking questions.


	2. One Month Later

A month had passed and Tails was still under the effects of his encounter with Fiona. Knothole was destroyed and the Freedom Fighter's operations moved to New Mobotropolis after the Egg Fleet decimated the village.

The young fox had begun to dedicate most of his free time to tinkering in his workshop away from any sort of contact with the outside world. He had never made any personal or social calls and only showed his face when it came to missions that required his level of technical expertise. When on such occasions, Tails always acted like he was doing just fine and was back to his same old self, but that never fooled any of the senior Freedom Fighters. They practically raised the young fox and as such almost always knew when he was hiding something, even when he himself didn't know. The only problem being that Tails had shut himself off from the rest of the world, including his best pal, Sonic, and didn't know how to properly approach him.

The truth of the matter was that Tails, in his emotionally distressed state, had managed to convince himself that Fiona was right. He couldn't seem to trust anyone as much as he used to, or they would end up hurting him in the end, maybe even find someone they preferred. The fox figured that the only thing that didn't lie or cheat or betray were the creations of his own mind and hands and had thus willingly shut out the world. In fact, Tails was labouring in his workshop one summer night as his mind begun to brood over these facts.

AN: Sonic and the Black Knight - Believe in Myself creates good ambience. Just sayin'. I might do something like this in the future if I find a good song.

* * *

The sound of fire and sparks against steel died out, revealing a soft tune of a violin playing on a nearby radio as a white-gloved hand flicked a switch and turned off the blowtorch. Sweat dripped off Tails' muzzle as his hands reached up to pull his goggles, smeared and cracked over constant use, over his head and behind his ears to reveal bright, sparkling sapphire eyes with a hint of pride in them as he gazed over his new creation.

Tails rarely smiled in the past month but found a grin spreading across his muzzle as he stepped back to look over his latest creation.

Sprawled out on a tarp was what appeared to be the classic Tornado plane Tails had always flown, but with a slightly different design. The new and improved Tornado plane appeared to be smaller than it's predecessor with wings curved slightly back towards the hull. Tails had decided to ditch the biplane design in favour making the plane more lightweight and adopted a monoplane design. All in all, the new Tornado Mark II was designed for performance and practicality rather than aesthetics. In fact, the only two pieces of aesthetics the plane contained were the familiar twin-tailed emblem Tails had adopted and his familiar blue-and-yellow color scheme along the wings, hull and propellor of the plane.

Tails thought of the Tornado Mark II's emphasis on practicality over aesthetics and mused to himself how it reflected in the style of it's creator. Tails, like most Mobians, didn't bother wearing many articles of clothing. Tails' fur provided the necessary warmth he needed and the notion of "looking good" simply confused him. Not to mention that pants tended to constrain his two tails and struggling to get both of his tails through a hole in the back proved to be simply too much of a struggle so he did away with the notion of wearing any at a young age. The only pair of clothing Tails ever wore were his pair of sneakers for his daily life and a bandana and pair of goggles for whenever he flew. Who needed clothes when you had a full coat of fur anyways?

Tails looked over his own fur and briefly noted how soft his coat had developed. He didn't know it yet, but his fur was secretly envied by many Mobians; some of them weren't necessarily of a vulpine species. The fox had simply let the fur grow and decided not to cut it short.

Tails' thoughts were interrupted when he could hear faint noises outside his workshop. 'Probably someone trying to invite me to something. Can't they just leave me alone?'

Approaching the window, his sapphire eyes were met with the night sky, riddled with distant stars but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. 'Wind must be picking up. I gotta remember to bring some stuff ins- Wait... There's that sound again. And what's that in the distance?'

Tails rubbed and squinted his tired blue eyes as he heard the faint sound of whooshing and dim blue lights speeding among the treetops not far from his front door.

'What is that? Could those lights be one of Eggman's robots? I doubt they'd be so close to New Mobotropolis. Still though, if Eggman's planning an attack, then I better check.'

Peering out the window one last time, Tails would give off a drawn out sigh and begrudgingly opened the front door of his workshop, stepping out. Glancing to the left where the speeding lights and figures had disappeared behind a thicket of trees and went back into his workshop to where he had left a long metal board. It was his Extreme Gear.

Tails wiped his hands along the blue-and-yellow board to clear off some of the dust that had gathered along the surface, as he had rarely used it. Figuring now was a good time as ever to use it again, the young fox picked up the board that was obviously too big for him and set it on the ground outside his workshop to turn it on with his shoe.

The Extreme Gear whirred to life and hovered a few inches above the ground for it's owner to step on.

'Everything seems to be working properly. No time to run a full diagnosis, though,' Tails thought as he stepped on. The fox recalled the other instances in which he used the Gear and sped off into the forest, the board blazing a trail of dim blue light.


	3. Forest Fiasco

**AN: Sorry I'm tardy, but you asked and you shall receive! I present to you a first in my writing: dual-perspection. Remember that reviews help me to improve. Also, if you see any typos or grammatical errors, feel free to send a message or if you're writing a review, include it there.**

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Chapter 3 - Forest Fiasco

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The night wind whipped Tails' fur back as he sped across the treetops of the forest outside New Mobotropolis on his Yellow Tail. Whoever or whatever Tails was trailing managed to keep outside Nicole's radar and alert the holographic lynx to any foul play, which in turn supported his previous theory of the lights being Eggman's robots. In fact, Tails could have went to alert Nicole himself, but his curiosity got the better of him. The fact that he had not seen any sign of the shadowy figures or dim lights also tugged at his conscious, telling him that he was tired and just simply seeing things.

While he was definitely more skilled at riding Extreme Gear than Sonic or Knuckles, he wasn't good enough to swerve past trees trying to tear his face off at the speed of light, Tails opted to stare at the forest floor from the treetops to the grand sight of nothing until he was distracted and nearly found himself tumbling off his board.

_'Woah there! Sheesh, I'm in no condition to fly like this. I shouldn't have stayed up so late working on the Tornado. I think I'll just call it a night and hit the hay. Those lights were probably afterimage from working on the Tornado's lights,anyways,'_ the fox thought to himself as he maneuvered his board towards his workshop and muttered in disappointment. Still, Tails' subconscious was not denying that his little evening flight had provided refuge from turning his thoughts to a more grim topic.

Unbeknownst to the young Mobian, however, was that he was not hallucinating and the forest was in fact the site for an even grander chase. A chase that involved a purple swallow named Wave: The resident mechanic of the Babylon Rogues.

* * *

A bright flash of blue light whizzed past Wave's head as her white bandana was nearly singed, along with the purple feathers underneath.

_'Damnit! I can't get these things off my ass! Where the hell did Jet and Storm go?'_ Wave lamented as she maneuvered through the trees in a desperate bid to shake off her pursuers. When passing clearings, Wave occasionally looked over her back to get a good look at her assailants.

What little of the moonlight could squeeze through the expanse of trees gleamed off the green metallic bodies of the newest improvement of a common threat in Eggman's arsenal. Modified with twin jet engines, improved maneuverability and a more diverse and deadly arsenal, the common Flapper became less of a nuisance and more of a threat.

_'I'd kill to have the time the fatman has on his hands. That still doesn't change the fact that the bastard can't even take no for an answer, though!'_

Wave briefly reflected to what had started this pursuit, and scoffed at how childish it was; even for the likes of Eggman. The fat overlander had sought out the

Babylon Rogues for another assignment, but the memories of their first job and betrayal had left them shaking their heads. In rage, the doctor had the zeppelin assaulted and their systems sabotaged. Jet had managed to direct the ship towards a clearing near New Mobotropolis and turned on the autopilot before leaving with Wave and Storm on their Gear as their home went down in flames. With luck, they might be able to repair the systems.

Wave rummaged around in her pack until she found what she was looking for: a solid red stick of dynamite. Explosives, dynamite especially, were always one of the Rogues' favourite things aside from Extreme Gear. She chuckled as she fumbled with a match, struck the fuse and counted to three before tossing the stick back. The dynamite flew through the air before the green Flapper's mistook it for a hostile projectile and promptly shot it down.

Wave flinched as she heard the explosion, barely given enough time to cover her ears.

_'I didn't expect them to actually shoot the dynamite! I guess I overestimated them,'_ The swallow smiled to herself as she maneuvered her Gear towards a fairly large clearing. Scanning the sky, she noticed two plumes of smoke rising into the night. One was definitely the Babylon Rogues' zeppelin, as the smoke was thicker. The second looked more like it was coming from a cabin of sorts.

_'Jet and Storm must be over there. Typical of them to go ahead without me. Jerks!'_ Wave shook her head as she began to ride off towards where her teammates must be.

* * *

_'That's way too big to be someone's campsite. I think someone's in trouble,'_ Tails thought to himself as he stared along the treeline at something that made him clench his jaw in worry: Thick black smoke was billowing out into the sky. He thought briefly about whether or not he should investigate, but the young Mobian found himself already maneuvering his board towards the black cloud.

_'My warm bed will have to wait.'_

* * *

Wave found herself facing a stone, metal and wooden construction in the clearing. Grey smoke billowed out the top, informing her that it was what she saw earlier. The swallow hopped off her board as she started towards the front door. Wave tried the door and found it to be open.

"Hello... Anyone home?" The swallow asked as she peered in from the open door, but to no answer. She took a cautious step inside, half-expecting something to jump out at her. Groping around for a lightswitch, Wave finally found what she was looking for and flicked it on. Light flooded her peripherals as she examined the room and was ultimately rendered speechless. The entire building was a workshop of sorts. The walls were lined with all sorts of inventions that held an as-of-yet unknown purpose.

_'Holy shit._'

* * *

Tails hovered above a smoking wreckage that was formerly a zeppelin. Something had attacked it, the pilots and passengeres were nowhere to be found and neither were the assailants. Caution racked his brain but caution drove the young fox onward as he decided to investigate further. Shaking his head to clear his houghts, he descended to the ground, climbed off his board and slowly advanced on the blimps while his ears were perked for anything other than the faint sound of a fire. The zeppelin was turned on it's side, so Tails briefly spun his two tails to hover onto the wreck's side and climb down into the cockpit.

Tails' gaze was caught by what appeared to be a red cloth with a golden insignia on it. The symbol looked familiar to the young Mobian, so he searched his mind for any information he could find.

His eyes immediately darted open. That's when it hit him. It can't be!

* * *

Wave kept walking through the workshop, examining each and every single piece of machinery. It definitely didn't look like anything Eggman would have made, or something would have tried to vaporize her by now. Walking into a a small hangar connected to the back of the building, a yellow and blue biplane caught the swallow's eye. Running her gloved hand along the wing, her examinations revealed a small logo: Two yellow and white fox tails.

Wave raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Something about the logo struck a chord in her mind, but what about it?

Wave's beak tightened as her eyes shot open. And that's when it hit her. It couldn't be!

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And so it happened that at that exact moment in time, both the fox and the swallow uttered the exact same words.

"You have **got** to be kidding me!"

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**AN: In the future I won't jump perspective as much as I did in this chapter. I did it to create drama and give the sense that both Tails and Wave were doing their respective things at the same time.**


	4. Confrontations and Deals

**AN: Here's another chapter early for you all to make up for past delays. Remember to post those reviews.**

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Chapter 4 - Confrontation

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The forest's eerie silence was disturbed by the steady thrumm of an Extreme Gear at top speed, and the flawless night sky was cut apart by a blue streaking light.

Tails' thoughts, however, were louder than any Gear as his brain was abuzz with so many questions and very few answers. Why were the Babylon Rogues here? Why is their zeppelin a burning wreck? Who made their zeppelin a burning wreck? Are they being employed by Eggman again? Of course, the most important question rang inside the fox cub's mind.

_'Where are the Babylon Rogues?'_

Tails touched down in front of his workshop but found himself stopping when he noticed the front door was wide open.

_'Oh no.. I left the front door unlocked! What if they're in there right now? They could be stealing my inventions! Damnit, did Eggman put them up to this?'_

Tails found himself pacing the front entrance and thinking of what to do. It was times like this that the fox sometimes regretted refusing to carry firearms. He wouldn't use a gun, of course, but he could have used it for intimidation. Unfortunately, anything that could even be remotely used as a weapon was inside his workshop. **His** workshop that was as-of-right now being ransacked by professional thieves!

Tails' gaze was caught by something resting along the wall: A purple Extreme Gear. The fox quickly ran around the perimeter of the building, searching for anything other than the board near the front door, but ultimately found nothing. To him, it seemed there was only one Babylon Rogue inside his workshop, and he knew exactly who.

The young Mobian sucked in a breath of air and slowly stepped inside his workshop, careful not too much noise; It wouldn't be hard, the place was his after all. Tails ducked behind a corner and slowly peered into the main room. Aside from multiple machines and gadgets, the area was empty. He was about to breathe a sigh of relief when a gloved hand grasped his shoulder, followed by a voice the fox was none too happy to hear.

"What do you think you're doing sneaking around, Shrimp?"

Tails wrenched himself from her grasp and fell back against the wall. Grimacing, the Mobian slowly looked up to face his unwanted house guest.

Wave seemed to be as displeased with the sudden turn of events as Tails was, considering her hostile glare and her folded arms. With a distasteful scowl, the avian spoke once more.

"I won't ask again. Why're you sneaking around?"

Tails slowly rose with his back against the wall. He wanted to keep as much distance as possible from the purple swallow.

"Y-You're the one sneaking around. I-I live here.. Th-this is m-my house."

Tails' hasty response ellicited a scoff and a roll of the eyes from Wave as she looked into the main room.

"You live in this dump? Typical of you, Shorty."

The fox's muzzle curled back into a snarl at the laughter that followed from Wave. If she was going to be snarky, then so was he.

"At least my house isn't a burning wreck in the middle of the woods." Tails briefly pondered if his response was a little too harsh, but nonetheless he found himself grinning as Wave lost her composure and with it, her temper.

"A burning wre-? Look here, shrimp," the purple avian half-shouted as she jabbed her finger in Tails' direction, causing him to recoil further into the wall. "I just lost my home to a maniac's legion of flying robots, my teammates are nowhere to be found and you have the gall to give me attitude? Unbelieveable!"

"Attitude? You're the one who barged into my home, and insulted my height and my machines yet again! You have some nerve, Wave." Wave clenched her fingers into a fist at the fox's tone. She was shaking now and about to begin another rant when a high-pitched voice chirped up from the entrance.

"Yeah, Wave. Some nerve," Jet stated as he walked through the doorway with Storm not far behind. "He's probably the only person around who can help us and you go and start a fight with him."

The swallow was taken back by the sudden appearance of her teammates and their siding with the likes of Tails. Wave was rendered speechless so Jet turned his attention to the frowning yellow fox.

"So? Will you help us?"

Tails crossed his arms as he stared up at green bird. Jet was shorter than Wave and dwarfed by Storm, but was still a head taller than the fox. He briefly considered helping the Babylon Rogues. Despite Jet and Storm siding with Tails in his shouting match with Wave, he still did not trust the two birds. He needed to press further.

"What's in it for me?" The corner of Jet's eye visibly twitched at Tails' question. It seemed innocent enough, but held a stubborn undertone that confirmed the fox's distrust of the Rogues. Regaining his composure before anyone noticed it missing, the Babylon leader offered out his hand to the fox.

"You help us fix our zeppelin and give us a place to stay while we're at it, we'll look around for a bit of Babylon technology as a reward."

Babylon technology! The inventions of the ancient Babylons were so great, that not even the finest inventors of the modern age could hope to compare. However, most ancient Babylonian tech was either lost to time, sealed away in tombs, destroyed or sat in some castle as a priceless decoration. Tails was nearly drooling at the prospect of laying his paws on Babylonian machinery when his more rational side jumped in. What if Jet was lying? What if the promised technology didn't exist, or was destroyed in the crash?

Tails looked to the gathered trio of birds. Wave looked like she wanted to throttle Jet while the green hawk was putting on his most winning smile. Storm, as usual, seemed completely out of it judging by his blank expression. The fox barely opened his mouth to speak when the phone on the wall rang, so he held up a finger and reached up to grab the receiver.

"Hey.. Tails?" Jet's voice stopped Tails mid-grab for the phone and the fox turned his attention to the hawk. "Maybe it's best no one else knows that we're here, yeah?"

Tails furrowed his brows and reached for the phone, placing the receive to his ear. A familiar voice rang in his ears.

"Hey, little buddy! How ya been?" It was Sonic.

"Oh.. uhh.. h-hey, Sonic. What's up?" Tails looked to the gathered trio of birds once again. Wave had her back against the wall glaring daggers at the fox while Storm nodded his head towards him with a dopey smile on his face. Jet still had his winning smile on and was visibly crossing his fingers. On the phone, Sonic's voice darkened.

"Something troubling you, pal?" Tails shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"N-no no. Everything's fine, Sonic." Behind him, the fox could hear two collective sighs of relief and a feminine "hmph!".

"That's great, bud because we need ya for a mission. Sound cool?" Sonic had taken on that tone of his when there was something that needed doing.

"R-right yeah. I'll be right over," Tails muttered before hanging up the phone and turning to the Babylon Rogues. Storm and Jet promptly did a chest bump which sent the green hawk stumbling to the floor while Wave slapped the palm of her hand against her face with an audible 'smack!'.

"This is gonna be a nightmare," Tails muttered so only he could hear as he turned to walk out the door. The fox decided he'd use his Yellow Tail board again as he turned to the three birds in his hallway.

"The spare rooms are up the stairs. And please, don't steal anything, OK?"

The latter half of Tails' statement ellicited a noise resembling shock and outrage from Wave.

"Just because we're birds you assume that we wou-" she began but was promptly shut up by Jet.

Tails simply shook his head as he walked out the door, hopped on his Extreme Gear and rode towards New Mobotropolis.

Ten minutes after the fox had left, Wave immediately turned her anger to the leader of the Babylon Rogues.

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"Jet! What were you thinking, siding with the two-tailed brat like that? You know how much he irritated me during the Grand Prix! How he acted like he was better than me, and when he won due to pure luck, he practically rubbed it in my face!" Jet smirked and rolled his eyes; The fox had done nothing of the sort. He was actually respectful to the Rogues. Wave was the one that tried to sabotage his friend's Gear. Of course, Jet didn't dare mention this and let her continue on with her rant. "And how could you promise him our technology? We need that to find the Garden!" Wave had finally cooled down long enough for Jet to speak.

"You're too proud, Wave. We're gonna need more than just you to fix the zeppelin. But you really think I'd give him some of our hard-earned treasure? When the ship's fixed we'll just fly off in the middle of the night and get a little revenge on Eggman. You'll see." Jet smiled as he walked up the stairs with Storm at his heels. Wave watched them depart with her arms crossed and a scowl plastered on her beak.

_'I better not go crazy working with the little shrimp! Though Babylon knows I've got enough on my plate dealing with those two idiots.'_

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**AN: If I'm writing someone too out of character, let me know and how I could improve.**


	5. Day One

**AN: Here's a short chapter, I'm afraid. The next one will be coming soon. By the way, what do you think should happen next?**

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_Chapter 5 - Day One_

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The engine sputtered and wheezed, blowing a black cloud of smog right into Wave's face. The swallow coughed and cleared the smoke away from her face with her hands while the engine continued to produce a steady stream of smoke.

"Shut it off!" She gasped. Soon enough her command reached unseen ears and the steady stream of exhaust was shut off. Wave cleared the air of the remaining vapors and shut the engine compartment.

"What's wrong?" The most recent subject of her loathing, Tails, had emerged from the cockpit and had walked over to where Wave was still clearing out smog from the air.

"What do you think, Shrimp? The engine's fried." Tails had seemed unphased by her snarky attitude, prompting Wave to briefly contemplate new ways to insult the fox.

Tails had re-opened the engine compartment and began to examine the damaged hardware while contemplating his current situation.

_'When Jet said "help", I thought that meant all of us, and not disappear while he left me with __**her**__.'_ The fox briefly looked back over his shoulder at Wave. Upon eye contact, the swallow shot a glare at him. She was probably thinking the same thing as him.

"Where's Jet and Storm anyways?"

"Probably stealing something." Tails furrowed his brow at this; if they got caught, he'd have to give some serious explanations as to why he was harboring criminals. If they were going to steal something, then it had better help him repair their ship. The sooner those birds kept up their end of the bargain and were out of his fur, the better. For now, he'd just tolerate their antics.

"Without you?" Tails inquired.

"Without me," Wave confirmed. Her tone surprised the fox. and his ears visibly perked up. For a brief moment, she sounded disappointed. This was short lived as she realized her mistake and quickly snapped back at Tails.

"Go check the systems, Shrimp and stop bothering me. I don't need you messing with the engine." She looked like she was about to throw a wrench at him, so Tails quickly rushed back into the cockpit, leaving only his ears or tails visible from the windows.


	6. Tension of a Personal Nature

**AN: Let it be said that I take good ideas to heart. Here's Chapter Six.**

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_Chapter Six - Tension of a Personal Nature._

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It was mid-afternoon and the sun was high in the sky when Jet and Storm came back.

The duo, as expected, were out thieving as Wave and Tails had expected, much to the latter's chagrin. Their expedition was not purely monetary, however, as they came back with a few essential machinery to help with the effort of getting their zeppelin repaired. Spare propellers, a brand new engine and two barrels filled with what Wave assumed was oil. The Babylon Rogues, or Storm for the most part, was hauling their purloined cargo into the ship while Jet and Wave did nothing.

"Who'd you get all of this off of?" Asked Wave as they watched Storm haul the new engine inside.

"Oh, you know, people," Jet smirked as Storm came over to them and started to lean on an oil drum.

"Hey, uh, Wave, why don't you wanna use the fox's stuff for the ship?" Storm's slow voice made Wave want to slam her face into the nearest wall.

"Because Shorty's tech is trash. And he puts symbols on everything; we use his stuff and it wouldn't look like **our** zeppelin anymore." Wave nodded to herself as if she was the only one who knew this. Storm and Jet replied with a blank stare, the former doing it because that was his trademark look and Jet was doing it with a sense of mild amusement.

It was then at that moment when Jet coughed awkwardly and pointed behind the swallow.

Tails was standing right behind her.

* * *

She had called his machines junk!

Her remark had briefly brought Tails back to the first Grand Prix. He had worked all night on that Gear and Wave just simply laughed in his face. With those memories, the fox was also brought back to that fateful day when Fiona had crushed his spirits and left with Scourge. Back then, the fox had his friends to back him up, but now he was alone, and he definitely wasn't going to take this sitting down!

The trio of birds turned to Tails. He was about to make a clever retort when Storm grunted and toppled over along with the barrel of oil. A black puddle had spread around the fox's shoes and he began to step back.

It was much too late for him to react; his momentum had decided his fate and his shoe had touched the ground before he could register what was about to happen. From constant use, the white rubber of Tails' shoes had worn down to the point of losing most of their friction and it didn't help that there was a puddle of oil beneath them. At this point, he had closed his eyes as he didn't want to see whatever was about to most likely cause him a great deal of pain and his arms shot out to grab the nearest thing at hand. He expected to collide with the hard metal floor of the hull but was instead met with something much more softer. In his mind, Tails' berated himself.

_'Good going, Tails; they'll never let you hear the end of this! At least this chair was in the way.'_ The fox audibly groaned in relief and he opened his eyes.

His eyes were met with two colors: White and purple.

As he pushed himself up, Tails was about to make light of the situation by remarking that the Rogues had an odd taste in furniture in an attempt to not look like a total clutz when he realized something: There was no white and purple furniture anywhere in this room.

The young Mobian had never admitted it to himself, but he had on occasion caught his eyes drawn to Wave. There was something about her that caught his eye. It seemed the fox's subconscious had beat his to conscious to the punch, as this was happening to Tails as he slowly began to realize that the soft purple and white chair was not in fact a chair just in time for his sapphire eyes met with a surprised swallow.

His mind drew blanks as Tails and Wave stared for what seemed like hours when it had only been five seconds. Five seconds was all it took for the swallow to go from surprised to very pissed off.

"Shove off, Shrimp," Wave growled as her hand darted out to push the fox back, causing him to nearly fall again. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Wave had begun to advance on the fox as he started to crawl backwards. His face was redder than an apple while he stammered repeatedly. The pissed off swallow had managed to reach him. She reached down to painfully pull him up by the scruff of his neck so they were face to face.

"I'm not gonna ask aga-," Wave was cut off as she too had managed to get slipped up on the oil and toppled forward with Tails along for the ride.

The wind was knocked out of the fox as he collided with the floor and was immediately sandwiched by the weight of his aggressor. He groaned in pain while it was Wave's turn to be embarrass. They were snapped out of their embarrassment to the sound of Jet howling with laughter. Jet's hysterics were ceased when Tails and Wave pushed themselves off the floor and started to slowly advance on Jet, looking like they wanted to commit unspeakable horrors on him.

Fortunately for the hawk, Storm, who had went outside to save his own feathers, had shown up again.

"Err.. Kid? I thought you said you didn't tell anyone that we're here."

"I didn't," Tails had turned his attention to the confused albatross.

"Then why is your fast friend here?"

"Outta the way, lemme get a look," a white gloved hand had reached around Storm's side and attempted to push him away, but the bird's bulk had stopped him.

Tails froze.

'That voice! How did Sonic find out? How am I going to tell him that I'm giving shelter to criminals? Or fixing their zeppelin? Oh.. Why did I even agree to this?' The fox looked around for somewhere to hide. Maybe if he hid, he wouldn't find him. It was too late however, as Storm had stepped aside for Sonic.

Except it wasn't Sonic.

Oh no, it was someone way worse than that. Twenty times worse.

The first thing Tails noticed was the cliche leather biker jacket, followed by a sneering face adorned with a pair of outdated shades. The biker visage was accompanied by a green-spined hedgehog Tails knew all too well and loathed.

Scourge. Scourge the Hedgehog.

Never before had Tails hated something so much. Not even Eggman had been particularly evil these past few months. Definitely not as evil as the Moebian standing in the only exit of a metal box. And of course his eyes were focused on the yellow and white fox admidst an oil spill and a trio of birds.

"Eh, squeaky, long time no see!" Scourge's grin grew even wider as the fox's tails drooped to the ground, followed by Tails' eyes darting to the ground in shame. The gathered Rogues regarded him for a moment before turning back to Scourge.

"And who're these bird-brains you're hangin' with? Tell me that blue airhead and his gang of wannabe heroes got tired of your shit and you think you belong with pigeons now."

"Who you callin' a pigeon?" Scourge ducked as a massive fist swung over his head, the gust of wind knocking his shades off balance. Scowling, he turned to Storm who had threw the punch and delivered a swift kick to the albatross' abdomen, causing the grey avian to fall backwards with a grunt of pain.

Scourge noticed that the two remaining birds were about to act while Storm was beginning to get up. He was outnumbered, and decided to leave with a few taunting words to Tails.

"By the way, Fiona's doin' pretty good. Glad you asked." Tails' mouth pulled back into a snarl as the green hedgehog made his swift departure into the woods, just in time to avoid Storm, who had attempted to jump on him but only succeeded in smacking into the floor. The zeppelin echoed with the vile sound of the Moebian's laughter.

Jet paced around the room in a frenzy, muttering profanities while Storm just sat there trying to register how he missed the hedgehog.

"Who the hell does he think he is, coming in here and calling us bird-brains like that?" Wave had crossed her arms, watching the other two Babylonians go about reacting to what had just happened.

"Seriously Shorty, who is that guy? Shorty?" Tails wasn't responding, prompting the swallow to reach down and snap her fingers to get his attention. When he looked up at her, she was at a loss for words. She almost felt sorry for the fox when their eyes met; he looked so sad yet he hardly showed any emotion.

"Who's Fiona?" Storm had gotten to his feet and sat down on the nearby couch.

"Nobody," was Tails' only response as he half-dragged, half-shuffled his feet out the door of the zeppelin towards the direction of his workshop. As if on cue, the first few droplets of water heralded the arrival of rainclouds of the forest.

* * *

AN: I felt like that was my best chapter yet. I'm certainly improving.


	7. The Merry Drunks

**AN: The guy writing "Fallen From Grace" just updated a few days ago. The story is actually really good, but the chapters come at random. As a result, I was inspired to update this after a massive delay. Sorry!**

**Check out "Fallen From Grace" here: ** s/8341590/1/Fallen-From-Grace

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_Chapter Seven: The Merry Drunks_

* * *

After their encounter with Scourge, Tails was in a melancholy that neither of the three Babylon Rogues could snap him out of. Not when Jet discussed his plans to commit further acts of larceny. Not when Storm nearly started a fire as he was cooking. None of Wave's usual taunting and teasing had any effect on the fox either, so it was clear something was bothering him and their meeting with Scourge had something to do with it.

"We need you to stay and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, like go back on our deal and tell his friends." If Wave wasn't a purple avian, her face would have been red with rage. Jet and Storm were going out to "borrow" more parts for the zeppelin, but decided to make Wave stay behind while supplying poor excuses.

"He won't! You saw how he practically drooled at the thought of getting his little paws on our tech. Which he won't get, right?"

"Don't try to change the subject, Wave," replied Jet while calmly holding up a hand in an attempt to calm the fuming purple avian down. "But to answer your question: no. He won't. Now if you'll excuse us, we'll be going." And with that, Jet and Storm were out the door before Wave could even get a single word out.

_'Those idiots! Just because I'm not as good at thievery as them, they think they can leave me behind to watch the two-tailed dingus! Whatever, I've got something that'll make me forget all this.' _And with that, Wave marched into the main room of the workshop.

Tails looked up from his current distraction to notice a clearly angered Wave marching to a nearby chair. Shaking his head and returning to his work, the fox looked down at the piece of unknown machinery. Truth be told, he himself didn't know what it was or what it was supposed to do; it was just something he cobbled together to deter his mind from his current woes. He often did this when something was troubling him, but it wasn't working right now. His mind kept drifting to the events of earlier that day. Scourge had invoked Fiona's name, causing Tails to immediately think about her.

_'Just when I thought I was in the clear, they come back. I just can't get a break,'_ Tails thought as he hunched over the box-like object to adjust a few bolts. The machine itself was hastilty built with screws, bolts and tape keeping the outer casing together. The indeterminable machine looked less like a machine and more like a first grader's art project, and whenever Tails gave it a source of power, it made and an ungodly screeching sound.

"What is that thing?" Tails looked up from his work to notice Wave was addressing him from her spot on the couch. Odd for her to take an interest in anything he created without calling it a piece of junk right off the hop.

"It's a... uh... I don't know what it is. It's a thing I made."

"You made something and you don't even know what it was? Typical men, always acting first and planning later." Tails knew the irritated tone of her voice was not directed at him. Deciding it was time to give up on his little project, the vulpine set his wrench down and perched his goggles on top of his head, turning his attention to the fuming swallow sitting cross-legged on the sofa.

"Jet and Storm left you out of their plans again?"

"You don't know half of the story, Tails. Ever since we crashed here, Jet and Storm have been acting like I'm the one who got us stuck here in the first place."

"Well, **are** you the one who crashed the zeppelin?"

"What? No, of course not! It was that stupid egghead who shot our ship down. We told you that."

Tails looked to Wave with a goofy smirk on his face, eliciting a look of confusion from the latter.

"You know, this is the longest you've talked to me without calling me 'Shorty' or degrading me directly." Wave responded to this with a look of surprise herself, but immediately shot it down with a huff and a cross of her arms.

"I'm just not in the mood. Things have just been on my mind. By the way, I've been meaning to ask you... Who's Fiona, and why did that Scourge guy mention her?" Tails immediately looked down at his shoes and resumed his melancholic trance. Wave knew that was the wrong question to ask.

_'So much for that,'_ she thought as she stood up from the sofa and strode to the door leading into a hallway. Glancing back at the fox, who had placed his goggles back over his muzzle and resumed his work on his impromptu creation in a robotic daze, the swallow thought about why she suddenly wanted to know what was bugging him. She always bugged him herself, but it was for her own amusement to see him flustered. If anything, it was actually sort of cute when he got like that. However, seeing him reminisce about something he clearly didn't want to made her feel a small amount of curiosity. Curious enough to do what she was about to do.

* * *

Tails' ears perked up when he heard Wave enter the room. He hadn't heard her first leave two minutes ago. The purple avian was carrying what appeared to be a glass bottle, and the fox was immediately suspicious when he eyed the label, which read _"Finest gin on Mobius!"_

"Uhh.. Wave? What are you doing?" Tails had removed the goggles and placed them atop his head again.

"What's it look like, Shorty? I'm getting shit-faced."

"What?" The fox's cluelessness caused Wave to roll her eyes in amusement.

"I'm getting drunk."

"Why?" Tails never really understood why anyone got drunk at all. Then again, he never knew anyone who ever actually got drunk often.

"Because, Shorty, Jet left me here to babysit you while they go out and have all the fun. Like always. Might as well not remember it all."

"Drinking makes you forget?" Tails regarded the bottle with a curious glint in his eyes. A distraction was something he craved, at least for a little while. In her mind, Wave was scheming.

'This is going better than expected! I hardly even had to entice him and he's considering it. Too fucking easy. Soon, he'll tell me everything.' She was about to offer some to him when he surprised her.

"Could I have some?" Just like she though. Too easy. She had to play it out, first.

"Aren't you a little too young to be drinking, Shorty?"

"W-well... maybe, but I..." This was exactly the reaction she wanted: Flustered and caught trying to do something he was told not to.

"Alright," Wave shook the bottle and simultaneously patted a spot on the sofa. "Sit and we'll get this party started."

Tails set down his goggles on the workbench and walked over to the sofa, where he climbed up to sit beside Wave.

"I'll start us off," The swallow said as she uncorked the bottle and poured some down her throat, causing her to recoil and hand the bottle of to Tails. "Strong stuff. Your turn, Shorty."

Tails eyed the bottle in Wave's hand. Taking it in both of his paws, the fox cautiously pressed the bottle to his muzzle and tilted the foul liquid back. He had to consciously force himself to swallow it down, otherwise he'd spit it out. The liquid burned his throat as it went down and caused his vision to blur. When it finally went down, the fox allowed himself to cough, illiciting a chuckle from Wave, who was watching him take his first drink.

"You'll get used to it," she said as she took the bottle. "After all, we're only getting started."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, after a large amount of sheer willpower on Tails' part, the bottle of gin lay half-empty. Meanwhile, Tails and Wave made it evident that neither of them could hold their liquor. The two of them, despite Wave doing most of the drinking, had quickly become merry drunks babbling nonsense.

"This is fun," said a hammered Wave, albeit slurred. "We should do this more often."

"I think we should," came the slurred voice of Tails. The fox was half-buried beneath his new drinking buddy. Part of him wondered how he got here, but that was dispelled when Wave ran a recently ungloved hand over the fox's chest, causing him to shudder.

"Tails, you're so fuzzy." Wave was making no sense, and Tails usually had a thing for personal space, but the alcohol convinced him to let it slide. The fox's mind was a haze, and he loved it! He had never dared touch a drop of booze but that was when he didn't get into his first stupor. It briefly occured to him that he may want to try other things in life.

'If Sonic saw me now, he'd have a fit!' Thought the young fox. He was interrupted from his thoughts when Wave picked him up by the scruff of his fur and leaned back on the sofa with the drunk and confused vulpine in tow.

"Wave? What are yo-," He stammered out before the purple swallow interrupted him by turning over on her side, effectively sandwiching the fox between her body and the back of the sofa. Tails shuddered as Wave began to run her hands along his chest fur and occasionally tugged at his whiskers, but he was at a loss for words about the situation. He wondered how he even got to where he was, or why this was happening, but the alcohol and the warmth of Wave's body in close proximity was making him so very tired. Yawning, he nestled his head into the nook of Wave's neck and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

Tails' light snoring began to draw on Wave's energy and she too began to close her eyes.

_'Wasn't I supposed to be doing something? Nevermind,'_ the avian thought as she too passed out.

* * *

**AN: Eh, I bet you thought there would be a lemon in there. Later chapters. Again, sorry for the massive delay.**


	8. Back to Normal(?)

**AN: Hey there. Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long.**

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Chapter Eight: Back to Normal(?)

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**AN:** Turn on YouTube and listen to _Help_, by the _Beatles_.

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The sun was shining brightly over the tree tops, the sunlight reflecting off the nearby lake and the distant rooftops of New Mobotropolis. The not-so-sentient birds were singing, the smaller, not-as-sentient mammals were scurrying about their business and all was well. All in all; a perfect day in the New Mobotroplian forest. Miles 'Tails' Prower rose from his slumber. He'd have been happy to wake up on such wonderful conditions on any other day, but two questions were invading his thoughts. Why was he on the couch? And why did his head feel like he'd been hit by a train?

The fox rose from the couch and looked to the end of it, noticing something peculiar sticking out from under the blanket he was using. It took a minute to register what it was, but he eventually identified them after giving his eyes a good rub. It was a hand. A purple feathered hand.

Since when did he get purple feathered pillows shaped like hands?

That was what the hungover fox was thinking to himself. Notice that he was hungover. He kept staring at those odd hand-pillows for what seemed like hours, his alcohol-drowned brain slowly churning. That's when it hit him, harder than the aforementioned proverbial train.

'I don't have purple pillows shaped like hands,' Tails thought as he lifted the blanket. Nothing he owned consisted primarily of the color purple. He could spend hours looking around his workshop and not a single trace of purple could be found. Well, that was until three troublesome birds had shown up on his doorstep. His fears were confirmed as he saw his bed-buddy. He had slept with Wave the Swallow.

Gasping, Tails took an involuntary step back and found himself tripping over the coffee table, knocking it over with a loud crash. He hardly registered it as his mind was sent reeling.

'I slept with Wave? Why don't I remember this happening? Did.. did we do anything? Stupid, stupid me! Agh!'

With the overturned coffee table came a rolling bottle of alcohol, which only served to make the young fox finally get a grasp on the situation which occured last night. It was all clear to him. They were drunk, and she had enticed him. He had thought himself to be too strong-willed to give into vices such as alcohol, but clearly mistaken. All it had taken was for Wave to shake a bottle full of the bitter-tasting liquid and all hope for him was gone.

With a sigh, he looked up to see the aforementioned avian staring down at him, chuckling with a look of mild amusement on her face. "Looks like you can't hold your alcohol, or your balance, Shorty!"

Tails scowled as he looked up at her. "This is all your fault."

Wave stopped her laughing to assume a look of mock hurt, emphasizing it by placing a hand over her beak. "My fault? You're the one that made the conscious decision. Don't act like the victim here, Shrimp."

The fox in question immediately backed off from the confrontation. He knew that she had him there, but he was going to wrack his head for any little retort, no matter how petty it might have seemed to him at the time. "You're the one that started it with your _abandonment issues_!"

That was it. That was Tails biggest mistake. Wave's face went completely blank as she stared him dead on, and that's when the fox knew he screwed up big time. He hardly managed to stammer out an apology before he fully grasped the oncoming onslaught of the avian's wrath; nothing he could say or do could save him from the impending hell.

Tails had barely enough time to duck under the flying wrench Wave had picked up and thrown at him. After that, he had to do all he could to avoid being smacked upside the head by whatever the bird could get her hands on. Books, wrenches, hammers and various other objects were being thrown across the room has Tails ducked behind a workbench, items of all shapes and sizes sailing past his head as he waited for Wave to cool her temper. Might be a while, though.

* * *

The workshop looked quiet enough when Jet and Storm walked in, their bags filled with _"borrowed"_ goods. Some of them were necessary for repairs, and some were some things the duo had taken a liking to. Even their bags were stolen.

"I hope Wave's not to mad at us, boss," Storm said in his slow, and deliberate tone as he hefted both rucksacks of pilfered goods over his shoulders.

"Nonsense, Wave understa-!" Jet was half-way through his sentence when he opened the door to the chaotic scene which laid within. Tails was hiding behind a makeshift fort cowering in fear while Wave was on the opposite

end of the room, shouting near-illegible curse as she threw various objects in the fox's general direction. Not even bothering to stop her, lest they face her wrath as well, Jet and Storm simply sighed and walked out,

ultimately leaving Tails to his fate at the hands of a pissed-off bird. Things were back to normal.

As normal as anything got around there, anyways.

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**AN: Sorry about the short chapter. I had to get my brain juices flowing. The next few chapters will most likely be taking place in a new setting, since Tails' workshop is getting boring for eight chapters straight. Sorry about that.**


End file.
